Rumour Mill - Wayne Bridge

Well Saints must be having a nice settled run in the league. All our players are performing well, there's competition for places and there's every reason to expect that we'll get better before the end of the season. If you also take into account that Saints have already signed several players this season, it means that there is a total absence of juicy gossip for this week's rumour mill.

So we'll go with...

Bridge for England !
Southampton's left back is looking likely to receive a call up to the Full England squad within the next week. Bridge has been ever present in the saints side in the last two seasons and has continued to impress and improve over that period. There are limited left sided options for the England side as it is, so Wayne would be a simply excellent choice. He combines his defensive duties with good attacking runs which he learned from his time on the left hand side of midfield. With the injury to Ashley Cole seemingly taking the Arsenal defender out of the picture, a place must surely open for the more accomplished Bridge.

Oh, an in keeping with the rumour mill, Wayne has been linked with a £7-8 million move to Liverpool over the last six months.

Manager Gordon Strachan certainly feels that a call up is due saying: "It would be great for the club if he got an England call-up as it would mean a higher profile.

"His form is very good. I've not seen many better than him. He has definitely got something. He will also get better with the intelligence side, while there's not a problem with the physical side.

"He can pass the ball, he can take the game to people. He's still learning defensively but having Chris Marsden ahead of him and Paul Williams alongside him has helped a lot as they are experienced players."